The No  Win Scenario
by Admiral
Summary: Routine training turns into Action in the Mutara Nebula!
1. Teaser

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE NO-WIN SCENARIO

By Darrin Colbourne

"Montoya to Flores," Commander Isabel Montoya said into her radio.

"Flores here," Lieutenant Gwendolyn Flores's disembodied voice called back.

Montoya checked her watch. "Let's start getting our groups together for final reports and pack it in."

"You got it," Flores said. "How do you think your guys did?"

"All right I suppose. Yours?"

Flores chuckled. "I dunno. For a while there it looked like my Landers wouldn't be able to work out the tri-corders."

"They're not _that_ complicated…"

"It isn't that. Frankly, I think they were a little lost when they realized the things don't have barrels and triggers."

Montoya smiled. "Well, don't ride them too hard about it."

"Wouldn't dream of it. We'll get set to go over here. Flores out."

Montoya put her radio away and looked around. When she saw that most of her party was in sight, she called out, "All right, everyone! Listen up! We're coming up on our time to return, so I want you to start collating the data you've collected and be prepared to detail what you found in the debriefing!" Most of the people within earshot acknowledged with a "Yes, Sir" or an "Aye, Sir" while others passed the word to those out of reach.

Montoya had to grudgingly admit that this training exercise was a good idea. It had been the result of Captain Pike laying down the law after the events at Ceres Two. He'd said that at the first opportunity she was to begin training non-Science Department personnel in the specifics of the Science mission, especially Landers, since his unchallengeable decree was that _every_ Away Team deployed from that point on would do so with a sufficient Lander complement for security. The definition of "sufficient" would depend on the size of the Away Team, but Landers _would_ go, every time.

The "first opportunity" turned out to be the small forest world in the Bastet star system's Goldilocks Zone, so training started with Montoya and Flores each taking a squad of Landers and a team of engineers from the ship's Damage Control sections - filling out two teams of ten - down to the planet's surface, where they explained in detail what they were looking for on such worlds and the methods of using the tri-corders and other survey equipment to find them. Two new teams would go down with Lieutenants Benjamin Goren and Jim Greenfield the next day, then the four top Science Department officers would rotate through the crew until everyone - including the Captain - had a better idea of how to do the main mission.

The first round of training had gone better than Montoya had expected. She'd been mildly surprised at how eager the engineers and Landers had been to learn what she had to teach them, and she wasn't sure if that was their normal state of mind or if they simply found the subject fascinating, though she assumed it was more the former than the latter.

The team gathered around her as she thought about the exercise, bringing her out of her reverie. "So, how did we do?" She asked everyone.

The Lander Sergeant leading the squad spoke up for everyone. "I think we got everything we were supposed to, Commander, but we do want to go over the data with you."

"We'll do that when we get back to the ship. Commander Silas is going to let us use the squadron ready room for the debriefing, so we can upload the data into the display systems there and see what you've come up with. Let's get going."

With that she led the team to their waiting transport. This spacecraft was one of the ships sent to replace _Enterprise_'s losses. Silas had told her that this one had come from a squadron that called itself "The Pony Express," a particular favorite of the CAG's because of the totally coincidental similarity between the Express's squadron emblem and her own. Where the Outriders sported a mounted horseman brandishing a musket, the Express sported a mounted horseman carrying a message pouch.

Montoya went straight to the cockpit to talk to the pilot when she boarded. "Is _Enterprise_ still out in the system?"

"Yes, Sir," Lieutenant Ryoko Meiji said. "We'll have to go out and meet her."

"We'll be settled in soon. You can take off right after."

Meiji acknowledged, then waited as the rest of the team secured the equipment and settled in. "Pony One" took off a minute later, followed soon after by Hauler Two from its landing zone on the other side of the planet. Pony One took the lead as the pilots set course for the asteroid belt between Bastet's fifth planet and the nearest gas giant. From the outskirts of the belt, it took almost no time for the ships to find their way to their base, the United Space Ship _Enterprise_, on training maneuvers designed to take her throughout the system.

Montoya led the team out of the transport when the flight deck repressurized. "I have to make my initial report to Captain Pike. Go on to the ready room. Lieutenant Flores will start the debriefing. I shouldn't be long." She waved and smiled to Flores on her way off the deck, then made her way to the turbolift.

She made her way to the Control Room via the starboard passage. She was surprised to find Commander Brigid Silas sitting in the center chair. Silas caught a glimpse of her, smiled and waved. Montoya smiled and waved back, then looked around. She found Captain Christopher Pike and Commander Mary McDonald standing by the entrance to the Engineering Watch Section and made her way over.

"Captain, I wanted to give you an oral preliminary report on…" Montoya began.

Pike silenced her with a raised finger. "Hang on, Montoya," he said. "It's just getting to the good part."

Pike's attention was riveted to the main viewer. Number One's attention was divided between the viewer and the datapad she was writing notes in. Montoya turned to the main viewer…and her breath caught. "We're headed for an asteroid," she said, trying her best to keep her voice neutral.

"Yes, we are," McDonald said. She sounded perfectly calm.

Montoya shook her head. "I thought the whole purpose of using an asteroid belt as an obstacle course was to _avoid_ the asteroids."

Pike glanced at her. "Any halfway competent pilot can do that," he said. "What we want to know is how close Silas can get to one of the big ones without crashing."

Montoya shot him an incredulous look, then turned her attention back to Silas. The CAG's attention was fully focused on the viewer now. She was leaning forward, drumming the fingers of her left hand on the armrest. "She looks…nervous."

"I'm sure she _is_ nervous," McDonald said.

"Should _we_ be nervous? I mean, she's a fine pilot…"

"She's an excellent pilot," Pike said. "That's actually part of the problem."

"How…?"

"I'll explain in a second."

Pike watched closely as Silas leaned back in the chair. "Helm, give me a ten-second burn on all portside thrusters on my mark." She waited as the helmsman prepared to carry out the maneuvered and watched the distance to the asteroid, counting down in her head. "Mark!"

The helmsman complied, throwing _Enterprise_ into a low orbit around the asteroid. Silas waited until they completed one orbit, then ordered, "Sub-light engines, all back Creep." The helmsman acknowledged and complied, backing the ship away from the rock as slowly as the sub-light engines could go. Silas waited patiently until the ship was far enough away, then said, "Give me 180 degrees right yaw and take us to the next waypoint, Ahead Slow."

The helmsman acknowledged and complied, spinning the ship around and speeding her up. "Answers Ahead Slow," he said. "Three minutes to next waypoint."

Silas turned the chair to look at the other officers, grinned and did a little dance. She turned back after Montoya grinned back and Pike gave her a thumb's up. McDonald smiled a little, but just shook her head and went back to her notes.

"You were going to tell me why she's nervous," Montoya said to Pike.

"Now that she's got a CAG posting under her belt, Silas has the opportunity to get on a Command Track," Pike explained. "It's her choice whether she wants to go for command of a tactical squadron or a starship. We've been looking for a chance to help her get some command experience in case she decides to go for the ship. The training schedule we're on while we're here has given us that chance."

"She's worried she won't do well?"

"Just the opposite. Right now she's thinking 'I can fly circles around that loser at the helm,' and she's probably right. Helmsmen are only required to take Basic Flight. Tactical and Logistics pilots are better trained."

"Why would that make her nervous?"

"Because once you're a captain of a starship your job is to make decisions, _not_ fly. The point of having a helmsman is so that the 'loser at the helm' can do his job and free you up to do yours. You're relying on his flying skills to get you where you need to be to accomplish the mission, and he's relying on your extra training to make sure he's doing what you need him to do. The hardest lesson for any potential commander is to remember to _command_ and leave the driving to someone else."

Montoya nodded. "And she's not sure she can do that."

"And it's making her jittery."

Montoya looked at him. "So you don't fly yourself anywhere anymore?"

Pike looked a little sad as he shook his head. "Nope. The last real flying any future commander does is in his XO posting."

McDonald paused in her work long enough to look up at him. "Well, thank you for that, Sir. Now I'm thoroughly depressed," she said. When Pike and Montoya grinned at her, she directed her response to the Science Officer. "Don't crack too wise, dear, because you _will_ be doing the Asteroid Belt obstacle course yourself before we leave this system."

Montoya's smile melted as Pike lowered his head and laughed. "My pilot training is only about equivalent to your Basic Flight," Montoya said weakly.

McDonald grinned as she turned back to her pad. "Yes," she muttered, "we're well aware of that."

"Just so you know, Montoya," Pike said when he recovered, "if you break this ship, you have to…"

The Communicator broke in before he could finish. "Conn, incoming signal. It's on subspace, very faint…sounds like a distress signal."

Silas turned toward her. "Can you put it on speaker?"

"Wait one," the Communicator said.

Seconds later, the speakers crackled with static as a voice said, "…ayday, Mayday…ships…is the _Kobayashi Maru_…der attack from…stile forces! Please….Mayday, may…"

The Communicator switched off the speaker. "It just repeats after that, Commander."

Silas looked up at the speaker. "_Kobayashi Maru_? What ship is that?"

"I'll look it up in the database," Ben Goren said from the Science station. After a minute a picture of the vessel and its specifications came up on the repeater above him. "_Kobayashi Maru_, registered to the Nishizono Mining and Heavy Industries Corporation. It's an ore freighter, 25 crew, capacity for twenty passengers and 120,000 metric tons of ore."

"Can we track the signal?" Silas asked the Sensor Officer.

"Working on that now," he replied. After a beat, he added, "Looks like it originated at 260 by 70, 65 light-years out."

"And what's out there?" Silas wondered aloud.

Goren did some more checking. "The nearest celestial object would be the Mutara Nebula."

"What the hell would an ore carrier be doing all the way out there?"

Goren shrugged. "Could be prospecting. Most of the major rocks in the Solar System are already claimed by one company or another, so they all tend to spare a ship or two to hunt down new resources to exploit outside the system."

"Sounds like the _Kobayashi_ found something else besides rock." Silas thought about that a minute, then leaned to the side and risked a look back at Pike and McDonald. Pike just offered a smirk and a shrug. Number One offered a passing glance before noting more things in her 'pad. Silas frowned at their general unhelpfulness and settled back in the chair. "Well, we can't very well ignore a distress signal, can we? Navigator, set course for the Mutara Nebula. Helm, get us clear of the belt and engage at Warp when ready. Sensors, try to pinpoint _Kobayashi_'s location when we re-enter normal space."

As the respective officers acknowledged and complied, Montoya leaned over to Pike and whispered, "Is this part of the exercise?"

Pike smiled and whispered back, "Yes…and no."

Before she could think of a response to the cryptic answer, the helmsman's voice sounded over Intercraft. "All decks prepare for Space Warp!" _Enterprise_ was underway a second later.


	2. Segment One

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE NO-WIN SCENARIO

By Darrin Colbourne

The _Enterprise _re-entered normal space in the outer reaches of the Mutara Nebula. Silas was startled by the image on the main viewer. "Wow," she said, "it's even twice as creepy up close." 

"Mutara _is_ Vulcan for 'death's head,'" Goren volunteered.

"Nice grasp of the obvious they have," Silas said. The Mutara Nebula was the gaseous remains of a long-dead supergiant star. In the time since that star exploded two smaller stars had formed above the main part of the mass. Those stars were drawing in material from the nebula, making the cloud look, from certain angles, like a giant, red, misshapen skull with glowing eyes rising up from a shadowy sea.

"Only reading the two stars at this distance," the Sensor Officer said, "as well as several planetessimals scattered around the nebula."

"No sign of the _Kobayashi_?" Silas said.

"No, Sir. I'm not reading any spacecraft nearby. No signs of a battle, no warp contacts out to three light-years."

"I'm still reading the distress signal," the Communicator said. "It's clearer now."

"On speaker," Silas said.

A second later, over a background of static, the frightened voice said, "Mayday, Mayday! All ships! This is the _Kobayashi Maru_! We're under attack from unknown hostile forces! Please help us! Mayday, Mayday…"

Silas motioned for the Communicator to cut the playback as the Sensor Officer said, "I've got a better fix on the signal source. It's coming from about three degrees to starboard, one-and-a-third A.U. distant." He paused. "What I'm reading is too small to be an ore carrier."

Silas turned to him. "Define 'too small'."

The Sensor Officer shook his head. "It looks like a subspace relay, but that would mean…" Suddenly his attention was drawn to a flashing light and an alarm coming from his control panel. "New contact! Fire control beam! We just got painted!"

"New signal!" The Communicator said. "The relay just sent a comm burst into the cloud!"

"VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE!" Sensors called out. "Missiles inbound, forward low, spread across the bow!"

Silas's eyes darted to the main viewer. "I don't see them!"

"They're just coming out of the outer layers of the cloud!" Sensors said. Another alarm sounded. "They just lit off their search scanners!"

Silas checked the Sensor repeater and cursed. "Helm, up twenty and Ahead Flank! Countermeasures, deflectors full intensity and prepare to launch a full spread of drones on my mark! Weapons, charge the point defenses, deploy the particle cannons and set Mounts Three and Four to counterfire mode!"

The _Enterprise _darted up and forward as twenty missiles roared out of the cloud at nearly half the speed of light and began a determined search for her. As the starship flew the four particle cannons mounted under the perimeter of the Command Section deployed on their flexible mounts and began scanning for targets. The rearmost cannons, Mounts Three and Four, began specifically looking for the missiles that Silas knew would soon be on their tail. 

"Another fire control beam!" Sensors called out. "The missiles caught the return! They're maneuvering to pursue!"

Silas pounded her fist on the armrest of the center chair, aggravated at being right. "Countermeasures, launch the drones!"

"Drones away!" Countermeasures called out. Two small robot probes launched from the countermeasures tubes in _Enterprise_'s tail. The devices backtracked their mothership, crisscrossing her wake and broadcasting enough high-frequency EM and infrared energy to fool an incoming missile into thinking it had found its target, at least for a few seconds. A few seconds was all a drone needed to get close enough to the missile to destroy it with proximity-fused explosives.

Silas counted the seconds as the missiles closed in and the drones went out to meet them. She was gratified when the little kamikazes took out two of the pursuers. Eighteen to go. "Keep 'em coming, Countermeasures!" The officer complied, managing to send ten more pairs of drones at the inbounds before the more sophisticated missiles in the group began evasive tactics and started dodging them. Six more missiles were destroyed. That left twelve that had managed to avoid the defenses and accelerate toward _Enterprise_, blasting away at her with their targeting scanners. "Secure off-board countermeasures!" Silas called out in frustration, wishing in the back of her mind that she were in her nice, tiny, black tactical craft instead of flying the big, blue-gray target. "Weps, the cannons can join in any time now!"

"Almost in range!" Weapons called back. At least the firing solutions would be easy. The remaining missiles were trying to run up _Enterprise_'s spine, most likely targeting her sub-light engines, the brightest, hottest targets on the Command Section while she was running flat out. Silas contemplated shutting down the engines and coasting, but decided the payoff in a reduced scanner cross section would be small compared to the loss of constant acceleration, something _Enterprise_ sorely needed to outrun missiles that were already overtaking her.

It seemed to take forever, but Mounts Three and Four soon began targeting and shooting at the inbounds, scything hundreds of particle beams a minute in the missiles' paths. The missiles, in turn, did their best to dodge the fire, jinking left, right, up, and down in a ballet of survival. Eventually the particle cannons started winning. Silas cheered silently every time one of the missiles winked off the Sensor repeater. It looked as if the cannons would finish what the drones started…until the last missile put on a final burst of speed and went into its terminal maneuver too swiftly for the mounts to track it.

"One's gonna get through!" Sensors called out.

The missile barreled toward the sub-light engines, then "popped-up" at the last second and described an arc that would end right in the center of the Command Section. Unfortunately for the weapon, that maneuver also put it right in the firing cone of the topside point-defense lasers. The missile was soon showered in free-electron beams that slashed through its fuselage and penetrated its warhead and fuel cells. The resulting explosion rattled teeth all the way through the ship to the Life-Support deck.

"Splash all inbound vampires," Sensors said.

Silas let out a breath and settled back in the chair. "Slow engines to stop," she said. "Switch all mounts to standby." She closed her eyes as the sudden rush of adrenaline faded, and she might have fallen asleep for a few seconds if she hadn't felt someone put their hand on her shoulder.

It was Captain Pike. "Nice work," he said. "I'll take over now."

Silas hurried out of the chair and stood at attention in front of Pike. "Yes, Sir," she said. "Thank you, Sir."

"Get down to the Flight Bay. I want both Cavaliers loaded for anti-ship and anti-air missions and at plus-five, ASAP."

"Aye, Sir!" Silas wasted no time leaving the control room after that, only sparing Montoya a worried glance as she headed for the portside passage.

Pike waited until she was gone before turning to the viewer and calling out, "Battle Stations!" He settled into his chair as the lighting in Control turned red and Montoya and McDonald took over their respective stations. As of that moment, training was _over_. "Number One, get us turned around and headed for the area of the cloud those missiles came from! Weapons, I want all the cannons set to counterfire mode and I want Mark 24s loaded in the tubes! Communicator, I want those Cavaliers off the deck as soon as they're ready!" All the officers acknowledged and McDonald pitched the ship 180 degrees, then fire-walled the sub-light throttle. The ship began to slow down and would soon accelerate back the way it had come. While he waited for that, Pike turned to Montoya. "Science, I want confirmation! Who just attacked us?"

"Working on it," Montoya said as she ran the frequencies and magnitudes of the missiles' search scanners and the fire control beam through the intelligence database. It didn't take long at all. "There's no doubt, Captain. The fire control scanner and the weapons were all _Klingon_ technology."

Pike sneered as he muttered, "Our _friends_, the Klingons." He'd suspected it as soon as he'd analyzed the missiles' attack. Ever since the Reunification War, Klingons had been programming their weapons to attack starships in just that manner. He let that sink in as McDonald made another course correction, pitching up a few degrees until _Enterprise _was barreling toward the missiles' launch point in the red and black expanse beneath them.

Just as the correction was completed, the Communicator called out, "New signal! The relay just sent another packet into the cloud!"

Pike grimaced. "Where the _hell_ are my Cavaliers?!"

* * *

Silas got to the Hangar Deck in time to see a plane crew loading Rider Two with See-Saws and preparing to tow it onto the Flight Deck. "No, No!" She called out. " Full anti-air and Mark 18s, _both_ ships, right the hell now!" 

The entire deck turned on a dime to carry out her orders, rushing to reload Rider Two with anti-aerospace missiles, Mark 18 anti-shipping torpedoes and nose-mounted lasers and equip Rider One in the same manner. As the deck and plane crews worked, someone retrieved Silas's flight suit and helmet. She pulled them on while standing in front of her ship. Her WSO, Pete Shanahan, was already in the cockpit. "What's going on?" He asked as she zipped up.

"We just got ambushed!" Silas said. She strapped on her helmet and climbed into the cockpit, then sped through her pre-flight.

"By who?" Shanahan asked, incredulous.

Silas turned her head to answer him. "20 missiles ran up our ass gunning for the sub-lights and the top of the saucer! Who do you _think_ it was?"

* * *

At that moment, somewhere in the cloud, an officer reported to his commander. "Update from the forward control relay. _Enterprise_ survived the first salvo and is moving this way." 

"That was to be expected," the commander said with a thoughtful nod. After all, _Enterprise_ and all her sisters were primarily aerospace defense ships. It would take more than twenty missiles and one salvo to completely overwhelm her defenses.

Fortunately, he had more to throw at her. _Much_ more.

The officer reported something else. "If they've survived, they must surely have analyzed the attack by now. They know who we are."

The commander smiled. "They may know who, but not _how many_ we are. Let's keep them guessing a while longer."

The officer smiled back and nodded, then went to carry out his orders.

As he waited, Kor, captain of the Imperial Klingon Ship _Gowron_ and commander of the First Special Armada of the Klingon Fleet, let a feral grin crawl across his face. It had been a very long time since he matched wits and strengths with a Human commander. He would enjoy this victory immensely.

* * *

"New racket!" The Sensor Officer said. "Somebody just started jamming everything hard!" 

"Confirm!" The Communicator said. "We're getting ECM interference on all subspace and short-range frequencies! Working on burn-through now!"

"We still have basic optics," Number One said, looking at the main viewer.

"And our Mark One Eyeballs," Pike said. "Okay, so Mister Klingon knows we know who he is, so he's trying to make us as blind as possible before he takes his next shot…" He had a sudden thought. "Communicator, before those Cavaliers launch, make sure you task Rider One with taking out that relay!" There was no sense trying to give the order after launch if comms were still being jammed.

* * *

"Rider One, Prize," Silas heard as the plane crews cleared the Flight Deck. "Take track designate Spy One on launch. Spy One is at 23 by 95 at 1.66 A.U. out." 

"Roger that, Prize," Silas radioed back. "Take track Spy One on launch. Rider One and Rider Two are on the line and _Go_ for launch."

"Roger that, Rider One. Sortie your ships and good hunting!"

With that the Flight Deck went through its launch cycle. Rider One was through the airlock doors first and Silas pointed it in the direction of the relay and lit off the sub-light engines.

Shanahan cursed after a second or two of flight. "Somebody's dumping electromagnetic garbage all over our sensors and comms!"

"Can you burn through?"

"Maybe enough to track the target, but you gotta get me closer!"

"'Closer' I can do." Silas fire-walled the sub-light throttles, adding their momentum to that taken from _Enterprise_ and sending the Cavalier screaming toward the relay.

After a few seconds, Shanahan called out, "I'm getting a return…!"

Another second, and a high-pitched warbling sounded in Silas's ear. "It's _toast_! I've got good tone!"

"We're gonna have to stare at it!" Shanahan said. "The missile's own scanners won't be able to compensate if they lose lock in this soup!"

"I'll keep us pointed right at the relay!" She switched from internal to external comms and announced to the universe, "Rider One, Fox Three!" A pull of the trigger launched one of the two large, anti-air missiles mounted on the Cavalier's flanks, sending it burning through space toward what its launch point's scanner told it was a solid target. A microsecond later the missile's own tracking system kicked on, adding its own energy to the return. The relay's scanner warning systems let it know it was being tracked hard. It started to execute a pre-programmed evasive maneuver, but couldn't build up momentum quickly enough. Before long, Rider One's missile tore through the center of the satellite, disintegrating it on impact.

"Hot Damn!" Shanahan called out. "Everything just cleared up! Nice of the Klingons to put their jammers on the same platform as their scanners for us!"

Silas grinned under her breath mask as she radioed to the ship, "Prize, Rider One, Splash Spy One, awaiting tasking, over!"

* * *

Pike worked some controls on his armrest as he gave the next set of orders. "Communicator, send Riders One and Two to the coordinates I'm sending you. A short jump each ought to do it." 

"May I ask what you're planning?" McDonald called out.

"I'm sending them to the other side of the cloud from us. That'll put them on the other side of whoever's in there. When the Cavs are in position we're all going to active search the hell out of that nebula."

"You may not get much of a return," Montoya volunteered. "The material of the nebula will create heavy interference with the scans."

"True," Pike said, "which means we may not be able to tell ship types and loadouts, but some return will at least give us an idea of the _numbers_. We need to know how many bad guys are out there."

* * *

Kor brooded as he sat in his command chair. The armada had been blind ever since its forward control relay was destroyed, and he only knew about that because the relay had broadcast a distress signal in its final seconds. Now he waited, though his less experienced officers were unsure what he was waiting for. He didn't bother telling them. Everyone would know soon enough. 

A moment after he thought that an alarm sounded throughout _Gowron_'s control room. "Scanner warning!" An officer called out. "The Humans are conducting a bi-static search!"

"That would be their ham-fisted attempt to determine our numbers," Kor said. "The time for deception is over. If they want to know so much about what they're facing" - his face broke out in a fang-bearing grin - "let's _show_ them! Have all ships decloak and run out of the cloud. Set your course for the most powerful scanner track. That will be the _Enterprise_!"

* * *

The Sensor Officer saw them as he was trying to analyze the data from the bi-static search. "New Contacts, dead ahead, coming out of the cloud and spread across the bow!" A pause as he identified the tracks. "ID as four _Kahless_-class cruisers and _six _Bird-Of-Prey type frigates! It also looks like they've got all their Raptors deployed, for a total of eighteen Raptors in the air!" 

Everyone's gaze turned to the main viewer as the ten ships and attendant smallcraft of the First Special Armada got close enough to see while the lone starship and the fleet closed the distance between themselves. "Bugger me," Number One muttered at the screen, her voice tinged with both fear and anger.

Pike turned to the Communicator. "Can we call for assistance?"

"No, Sir," she said. "The Klingons have resumed subspace jamming. It will take time for me to burn through enough to get a signal out of the system."

"So we're on our own," Pike said as he settled back in his chair. His brow furrowed and he steepled the fingers of his hands in front of his face as he watched the approaching Klingon force.

"Fine," he sneered, "time to earn our pay for the month."


	3. Segment Two

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE NO-WIN SCENARIO

By Darrin Colbourne

"VAMPIRE!" The Sensor Officer called out. "They just launched another salvo!"

"Maintain course and speed!" Pike called out. The particle cannons and drones would take care of the missiles and he needed to keep _Enterprise_'s most powerful weapon - the torpedo launcher - pointed toward the enemy. "Fire Control, do you have solutions yet?"

"Aye, Sir!" Fire Control called out. "Solutions set for Kings One and Three!"

"Fire one and two! Reload with Mk 24s until I say otherwise!"

"Torpedoes away!" Weapons called out. "Torpedoes running hot, straight…" The two torpedoes winked out of existence before he could finish. "…and normal!"

* * *

Aboard the _Gowron_, the Sensor Officer blanched. He was about to report that he'd lost track of the torpedoes _Enterprise_ had just launched when several alarms sounded as two major shockwaves rattled the ship on both flanks. The officer checked his screens. "Captain! _Gorkon_ and _Tyr_ have been destroyed!" 

Kor glared at him. "How?!"

"I don't know! _Enterprise_ had launched two torpedoes, but I lost track of them soon after they were spaced. It was as if…"

Kor cut him off with a slashing motion. "Just tell me if it happens again! Helm, emergency jump to Warp on my mark! Communicator, signal _Kragg_ and have them prepare to do the same! _Hurry_, damn you!" He was mulling over the firing rate of a _Constitution_-class's torpedo tubes.

All too soon the Sensor Officer called out, "_Enterprise_ is shooting again! I've lost the torpedoes!"

"Helm! Jump now! Now!"

The _Gowron _winked out of existence just a microsecond before the Mk 24 targeting her winked back in where the Klingon ship's center of mass would have been. With its target gone, the torpedo went into a sub-light search pattern and began scanning the surrounding area for it, or something similar. _Kragg_ wasn't so fortunate. That ship tried to enter subspace at the exact same moment the torpedo was coming out. The two objects met in the threshold and disappeared from existence entirely. A moment later, the searching Mk 24 gave up on its primary target and looked for one of opportunity, which it found in one of the Birds of Prey. It winked out of existence again, taking out the BoP upon its return.

* * *

"Bird Three sunk!" _Enterprise_'s Sensor Officer called out, confirming the BoP's demise. "King Two presumed sunk!" 

"Three Kahlesses and a Bird of Prey," Number One remarked as she guided the ship through a mass of attacking missiles. "Not bad at all!"

"But not perfect," Pike said. "King Four got away." They now knew two things. The warp-capable Mk 24 Anti-shipping torpedoes worked as advertised, and there was at least one tactic that could be deployed against them if the target had sufficient warning. "Reload with Mk 10s! We'll use those on the other Birds!" That way, they could save their limited supply of 24s for the task of overwhelming King Four when it returned, which Pike was sure it would do. "Communicator, recall Riders One and Two to help out!"

* * *

The _Gowron _reentered normal space ten astronomical units away from the battle. Kor pounded the armrest of his chair and seethed, "Dammit! So Far? Helm, get us turned back to the battle, Ahead Flank!" 

"Not at Warp?" His First Officer asked.

"Not yet," Kor muttered. He needed time to think. "Communicator, add this update to the intelligence packet: 'The Humans have begun deploying their new warp-capable anti-ship weapons. They can be evaded by going to Warp, but only with sufficient warning.'" He checked the repeaters on his control panel. "'The cue will be the detection of a small Warp threshold opening up just after a torpedo launch, followed by the loss of contact with the weapons.' Send that _now_!" He settled back as the communicator acknowledged. "Hopefully that will get our weapons designers off their collective asses and back to work!" He fumed to no one in particular. "Now, Sensors, full magnification on the screen! I want to see what's going on!"

The officer complied and Kor was treated to a visual of his five remaining Birds of Prey closing in on the United Earth starship. They had unleashed yet another salvo of anti-ship missiles, which _Enterprise_ was swatting out of the universe handily.

It made Kor growl in rage. "Communicator, All ships: Stop wasting good missiles on salvo attacks! Close on _Enterprise_ and use energy weapons, and stay so close that she won't dare use torpedoes against you! Stick on her like _lyichen_ on a _targh_!" Kor brooded until he saw the fleet was complying, then he smiled. "Good, Good!" Then his smile widened when two more ships winked into the image.

"The Cavaliers!" The First Officer said. "They've returned!"

"Finally!" Kor said. The whole purpose of his mission here was about to be fulfilled. In one of those small spacecraft was the Human pilot known as Brigid Silas. He had been hoping to force _Enterprise_ to launch at least one of them, on the off chance that Silas would be the one to go. With both ships in the sky, it was almost guaranteed. Now that they were about to join the fray, he could be assured of her destruction. He wondered fleetingly if the Human "scientist" Isabel Montoya was with Silas in the cockpit again, but ultimately it didn't matter. Destroy the Cavaliers and they'd get at least one target. Destroy the _Enterprise_, and both women would soon be sharing a cockpit in whatever the Humans called Hell.

You will be avenged, Brother Toro, Kor thought, then he ordered, "Cloak the ship! Helm, prepare to jump back to the battle area on my mark!"

* * *

"Holy Crap!" Silas said when she saw the pounding _Enterprise_ was taking. "Those Birds are all over our air base!" 

"_Enterprise_ will hold up!" Shanahan said. "They gave up on the missiles and are trying to take her out with particle guns! What her external armor can't stop, her internal armor will seal itself against!"

"Not _forever_, and right now Prize is having just as much trouble using her guns against the bad guys! Gimme a torpedo and prepare to go active! We're going in!"

"You wanna use a torpedo so close to Prize?"

"Hopefully our target will run when it realizes we have a lock and that won't be a problem. Worse comes to worst, we singe some paint and put a few dings in Prize's hull. Either way, it takes some of the heat…"

She was interrupted by a high-pitched warning tone. "We got inbounds!" Shanahan called out. "Come right and down and floor it!"

Silas complied, rolling the ship right and adding a few degrees down-angle before fire-walling the sub-light engines. "What do we got?"

"Scanner-guided anti-air, nine missiles…they had to have come off Raptors!"

"_What _Raptors?!"

Shanahan hesitated. "The nine Raptors that are trying to overrun and outflank us! Launching countermeasures! Jink left! Jink left!"

Silas cursed as she maneuvered the ship.

* * *

"The Raptor force is breaking up!" The Sensor Officer announced over the rattling the ship was doing. "Nine Bandits each are now pursuing Rider One and Two!" 

"Well, now we know what the Raptors were waiting for!" Number One called out.

"Air Defense sweep!" Pike called back. "Somehow the knowledge doesn't comfort me!" For a moment there it looked like Rider One would try to torpedo one of the Birds of Prey. Pike half-hoped that Silas would take the risk. Anything would have been better than the situation he was currently in. Every now and again _Enterprise_ managed to damage a BoP enough to drive it off, but there were so many attacking so closely that he couldn't concentrate enough fire to destroy any of them outright.

Just then Commander John Adams delivered more bad news from the Engineering Watch Station. "Captain! These guys are starting to break through! We've got multiple outer hull breaches in both sections! They haven't gotten through to any critical areas and Damage Control is on top of the worst ones, but we can't stay lucky forever!"

"We won't have to!" Pike said. "Number One, emergency jump on my mark!" He had come to a decision. The risk inherent in _Enterprise_ going to Warp under these conditions was greater for the Klingons than it was for the starship.

Number One switched her hand to the Warp throttle as she keyed her Intercraft button. "All Decks, Prepare for Space Warp!"

Pike counted to three in his head before calling out, "Engage!"

The results were immediate and dramatic. The shockwave caused by _Enterprise_'s jump threw three of the Birds of Prey several kilometers in different directions. The remaining Birds, the closest, were swept up in the starship's wake. They re-entered normal space trailing _Enterprise_, disoriented and out of control.

It was just what Pike was waiting for. "Cannons to anti-ship mode! Fire at will!"

In seconds, the robot arms the particle cannons were mounted on re-deployed so that all the weapons were aimed aft and targeted on the closest BoP. That ship was decimated by a hail of high-energy particles a second later, and was soon followed by its companion.

Pike wanted to cheer, but he knew there was more work to do. He checked the main viewer. "Okay, where the hell are we?"

The Navigator checked their position. "Other side of the nebula from the battle area, about nine A.U. distant."

"Get us back there," Pike said. "Cannons to anti-air mode!" It was time to help out the Cavaliers.

* * *

"We might want to think about following Prize's example!" Shanahan called out as Rider One continued to run from its pursuers. 

"Already thought about it," Silas said. "Raptors are too maneuverable and their pilots are too smart for that to work on them!"

"I'm not talking about anything fancy!" Shanahan said. "I just think we need to put on some speed, and we're balls-to-the-wall now, which means either we warp or we dump the torpedoes!"

"We are _not_ wasting two perfectly good torpedoes just to get a few more meters-per-second of delta vee!"

"I knew you'd say that, which is why I said…"

"All right! I get it! How are the Bandits set up on us right now?"

Shanahan checked his screen. "Two V-formations, one of four and one of five, closing on us on our Eight- and Five O'clock respectively!"

"Any trailing them?"

"Not that I can see!"

"That'll have to do! Standby for Space Warp!" Silas checked her head-up display and let the enemy ships get a little closer, then she reversed the Cavalier's Warp engines and throttled them. A split-second later Rider One was a light-minute _behind_ the Klingon formations and watching as they sped off on their base course. She took a moment to flip their exhausts the bird before maneuvering and giving her next order. "Snapshot! Give me a wide-field, long-range scan and target the nearest Bird of Prey!"

Shanahan took half-a-minute to comply. "Got him! You've got torpedoes!"

Silas pulled the trigger twice. "Rider One, Torpedoes Away!" The two torpedoes on the Cavalier's flanks detached and sped off at full sub-light speed toward the targeted Klingon ship.

Silas turned her head to Shanahan. "There! I went to Warp _and_ dumped the torpedoes! Happy now?"

Before Shanahan could answer, a series of shockwaves rattled the Cavalier as the pursuing Raptor force warped in all around their position.

"Could be happier…" Shanahan muttered as the Klingons maneuvered to close in from every direction.

There was a split-second of terror where Silas contemplated going to Warp again, then another, bigger shockwave rattled Cavalier and Raptor alike as the United Space Ship _Enterprise_ returned to normal space nearby and began targeting Raptors with her particle cannons, turning what would have been a ridiculously hairy dogfight into a turkey shoot.

"You're beautiful, Prize!" Silas radioed to the ship.

The response was all business. "Rider One, Prize. Rider Two is totally defensive. Position is being relayed by datalink. Transit at Warp and lend assistance."

"Roger that, Prize," Silas radioed as she checked her head-up display. "We're on our way." She turned the ship and said to Shanahan, "Standby for Space Warp."

"Why doesn't Prize just do for Two what it did for us?" Shanahan asked.

"She'll be busy. There's still three Birds of Prey out there." Rider One warped away a moment later.

* * *

"Bird One has gone evasive," Sensors called out. "He's got two Mk 18s on his ass!" 

"Let's give him something more to think about," Pike said. "Snapshot on Bird One! Fire when ready!"

"Solution, set!" Fire Control said.

"Torpedo away!" Weapons said.

"Where are the other Birds?" Pike asked.

"Got 'em!" Sensors said. "Bird Five is at One-O-Clock high and Bird Six is at Ten-O-Clock low, both are inbound and running flat-out to get here!" An alarm sounded. "They just lit off their targeting scanners!"

"Snapshots on both ships!" Pike called out.

"Solutions set!" Fire Control called out.

"Torpedoes away!" Weapons called out.

"Reload with 24s!" Pike called. He watched as the salvo of Mk 10s he just launched closed on their targets. Though Bird One was frantically trying to dodge its pursuers, Five and Six continued on course and speed until they launched a pair of anti-ship missiles each. "Cannons to counterfire mode!" Pike ordered. He maintained course and speed as well, waiting until all three Klingon ships were maneuvering for survival. When he saw this, he ordered, "Set solutions for Five and Six! Fire when ready! Reload with 24s!"

Solutions were set, the torpedoes were launched, and two short jumps later Birds of Prey Five and Six were obliterated because they were too busy evading conventional torpedoes to go to Warp. A minute later, Bird One lost its race with its pursuers. It died in a ball of nuclear fire.

"All Birds of Prey sunk!" Sensors called out.

"How are the Cavaliers doing?" Pike said.

"Rider One managed to reduce the odds some," Sensors said. "There are five Bandits left. Riders One and Two have gone evasive."

"Both ships are down to their guns for anti-air," The Communicator added.

Pike checked the positions of all the ships on the sensor repeater and said, "Helm, right ten and up fifteen, increase to Full! Communicator, have Riders One and Two rendezvous with us and buzz the saucer! Cannons to anti-air mode!"

All the officers acknowledged and complied, and soon _Enterprise_ was on a collision course with her tactical craft, which were in turn being pursued by the remaining Raptors. The distance between the starship and the formation closed rapidly, and before anyone knew it the Cavaliers were passing down the starship's left side. Three of the Raptors were destroyed by cannon fire as they tried to pull off the same maneuver. The last two evaded _Enterprise_'s guns just long enough to find themselves in the sights of the no-longer-retreating Cavaliers, then died in a barrage of laser fire.

Pike let himself feel a little relieved for the first time since the battle started, but he knew it wasn't over. "Recall Riders One and Two! I want them reloaded and re-launched ASAP! We still have…"

Sensors interrupted him. "New Contact! Warp energy transient off our port quarter!" Another alarm sounded. "VAMPIRE! Particle barrage inbound!" A second later the ship shook and the lights dimmed as a storm of particle blasts slammed into _Enterprise_'s port engine nacelle, tearing through the machinery and sending shrapnel into the starboard nacelle.

"Go, Number One, _Go!_" Pike yelled. Number One fire-walled the sub-light throttles in an effort to get the ship away from whatever was shooting at them.

* * *

As the _Enterprise_ streaked off, the _Gowron_ decloaked and crossed her wake, then turned to pursue. "This ends _here_, Humans," Kor growled at the viewscreen. 


	4. Segment Three

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE NO-WIN SCENARIO

By Darrin Colbourne

Silas was too stunned to react at first. One minute, _Enterprise_ was saving her and Rider Two's asses, and the next the starship was being shot up by a _Kahless_ cruiser. "Where the hell did _he_ come from?!" Silas yelled at the universe.

"I don't know," Shanahan said, "but we sure know where he's going!"

Silas growled and keyed her external comms. "Rider Two, Rider One, you still have your Mk 18s?"

"That's affirmative, Rider One," the pilot of Two radioed back. "I'm locked and cocked!"

"Follow me in!" Silas gunned the engines and took off in pursuit of the Klingon ship.

"We doin' what I think?" Shanahan asked.

"We sure are!" Silas said. "_Nobody _trashes my air base!"

* * *

"The Cavaliers are pursuing us!" The Sensor officer called out. 

Kor held his tongue, but only just, complaining only in his own mind that if his incompetent Raptor pilots had been doing their jobs this wouldn't be a problem. That Silas had to be a witch, he concluded, or unreasonably lucky. "How are they armed?" He called back.

"The lead ship is armed only with a laser weapon. The trailing ship seems to be armed with their Mark Eighteen anti-shipping torpedoes!"

"Of course it is," Kor grumbled. He weighed his options. Since the main objective of the mission was to kill Silas, he just needed to turn around, swat the Cavaliers out of the sky and declare victory. The problem was there was no way to be sure of killing the secondary objective - Montoya - without killing _Enterprise_, a much more difficult prospect, even with all the damage the starship had taken to this point. Kor was the type of man who hated leaving anything half-finished, so he decided then and there that he would do what was necessary to kill both targets. That meant his real choice was whether to turn and attack the Cavaliers first or maintain course and speed and destroy _Enterprise_ first. Either course of action would leave a potential threat in his wake, one that might prevent him from achieving total victory. What he really needed was a way to get all the Human ships in his ship's kill zone…

And then it hit him, and he smiled as he realized the Humans' lives were almost at an end. "Helm! Prepare to jump to the following coordinates on my mark…!"

* * *

Meanwhile, ahead of _Gowron_ and running fast, there was pandemonium in _Enterprise_'s Engineering Watch Section as the Power/Propulsion Officer had to practically shout to be heard over the various alarms sounding in the space. "We've got major disruptions in nearly thirty percent of the distribution system, and they're causing 'low power' situations in the Fire Control, Life Support and Flight Operations subsystems!" 

Commander Adams thought fast. "Okay, bring up the auxiliaries and shut down both engines!"

The Officer complied. The lighting in the Control and Engineering spaces changed from red to blue when auxiliary power kicked in. The bad news came when he tried to shut down the Warp engines. "Engine Two is down, but I can't lock down Engine One!"

Adams checked the status board. "We're gonna have to dump it! Get ready, on my signal!" He took a step toward Control. "Captain! I'm gonna need you to make a clearing turn down and right on my signal! We're dumping the Number One Warp engine!"

"You heard him, Number One?" Pike said.

"I heard him!" McDonald said. "Down and right, on his mark!"

As they spoke, Adams watched carefully as the Power/Propulsion Officer tested the mechanisms that would detach the engine nacelle from its support strut. "We're good to go!" He said.

"Dump the nacelle!" Adams ordered, then he turned to Control. "Make the turn, now, now, _now!_"

A series of explosive bolts separated the portside engine nacelle from its strut just as Number One gave _Enterprise_ ten degrees of down-angle and hard right yaw. The damaged engine continued on _Enterprise_'s base course with about a degree of up-angle. Adams watched closely as the two objects retreated from each other in space, hoping that the ship would put enough void between itself and its sick engine before…

"Everybody brace yourselves!" Adams called out. "We're gonna feel this one!"

At that moment, the engine nacelle exploded in a brilliant flash of white light! The shockwave slammed into _Enterprise_ a few seconds later. As the ship rattled and slewed right, McDonald fought to turn her head-on into the effect. She managed it just a second before the turbulence subsided.

* * *

"That explosion!" Kor exclaimed. "Was it _Enterprise_? Was she destroyed??" 

"Negative," Sensors said. "It jettisoned one of its power units! The ship itself is still intact!"

Kor pounded an armrest with his fist. "Not for long! Make the jump now!"

* * *

"Almost there…" Silas announced to no one in particular. She wanted to get Rider Two within point blank range of the target so that when he launched his torpedoes it would be a two-second run and bye-bye Mister Klingon. To that end she was jinking back and forth in Rider Two's path to give the Kahless's close-in defenses something to shoot at besides Rider Two. She expected to get shot up in the process, but if it meant a clean kill on the bad guy, it would be worth it. 

What she never expected was to see the Kahless suddenly jump to Warp, creating turbulence that tossed Rider One and Two aside. "Hey! No fair!" Silas complained when she recovered.

Shanahan checked his readings. "It didn't go far! That was barely enough subspace displacement for an emergency jump! We'll find it with a long-range sweep!"

* * *

Aboard _Enterprise_, the Control Room crew was recovering as Adams made his report. "Obviously the port main engine's a total loss. Starboard engine is shut down. We have enough of a charge in the auxiliary units to give us full maneuverability and weapons for about two days, assuming nothing heinous happens to them in the meantime." 

Pike put a hand to his forehead and knitted his considerable brow as he listened. When Adams was finished, the Captain of the _Enterprise_ gritted his teeth and growled, "Okay…now I'm _pissed_!"

The Sensor Officer spoke up then. "Warp contact! King Four just jumped! He's on our starboard quarter now, ten light-minutes out! He's turning toward us!"

"Why waste the warp power?" Number One said. "He could just as easily have closed on us from his last position."

"I think I know, Number One," Sensors said. "Last time we had a good look Riders One and Two were trailing King Four. Now that the Klingon's jumped and turned the way he has…"

"…he's got us _all_ in his boresight!" Pike finished. "Nice and neat!"

"Shall I reposition the Riders, Captain?" The Communicator asked.

"No," Pike said. "Tell them to stay on station where they are and prepare to track King Four after we make our run." He straightened up in the chair and settled himself in. "Number One, I'm tired of playing nice with this bastard. Put us in his _face_!"

McDonald grinned as she turned the ship. "In his face, Aye, Sir!" When _Enterprise_ was bow-on to the Klingon, she gunned the sub-light engines. "Answers Ahead Flank! Deflectors Full Intensity!"

"Take him down the right side, Number One," Pike said, "but don't give him an indication of what you're doing till the last possible moment!"

"I love a good game of chicken…" Adams muttered as he retreated to the Watch Section.

"Cannons to anti-ship mode!" Pike toggled his Intercraft switch. "This is the Captain! Prepare for particle bombardment! Seal all compartments! Anyone not in a blast-shielded area of the ship, get to one right now!" He signed off and watched as the Landers guarding the port and starboard passages stepped in just a second before those passages were closed off by emergency bulkheads. "Fire when you have the range, Weapons!" He called out.

McDonald hated to do it, but she had to ask. "And if he decides to launch missiles instead?"

Pike checked the countermeasures status on his control panel. "We've still got enough drones to deal with one Kahless's rate of missile fire. We'll be fine. Besides, this is just as personal for him as it is for me. This is a gunfight right now."

* * *

"_Enterprise_ is closing to attack!" Sensors called out. "Her particle cannons are deployed and all targeted on us! She's at full military speed and is on a collision course!" 

"You sound frightened, Man!" Kor said.

"Not frightened, Captain, just…astonished. I never thought the Earthers had it in them!"

Kor grinned. "But aren't you glad they do?? _Now_ this is a battle! Match bearings and speed! Full power to the forward cannon! Fire as soon as we're in range!"

"Should I launch a salvo of missiles?" Weapons asked.

Kor dismissed him with a wave. "If they have the stomach for a proper duel, then we won't disappoint them!" He raised his fist high. "For The Emperor! _K'plah!_"

"K'plah!" The other Klingon officers called back, and suddenly the atmosphere in _Gowron_'s control room was a lot more jovial.

* * *

"Are you seeing this?" Silas breathed as she watched the big ships close with each other on one of her screens. 

"Man, I am so glad I ain't in the ship right now," Shanahan said. "You just know half the crew's crapping a fat brick!"

Silas barely heard him. She was transfixed by the sight of _Enterprise_ running in hot with guns, just like the in the old Air Corps movies. "Go baby go…" she whispered, "go baby go…"

* * *

The _Enterprise_ and the _Gowron_ opened fire simultaneously, showering each other's command sections with millions of high energy particles! Both ships shook as the blasts bounced off armor at first and then began to penetrate! The internal noise was deafening as the blasts that made it through impacted on blast-shielded spaces! Both ships kept up their volume of fire as they closed within "kissin' distance!" 

The starship's Approach Angle imager was blown out within the first few seconds of the exchange, so Number One had to rely on the information she was getting from Sensors on the ships' positions. At what she thought was the right moment she gave the ship ninety degrees of right roll and a degree of down angle, hoping against hope that she wouldn't hear the sound of alloy scraping against alloy. Fortunately the Klingon helmsman was just as skilled. He matched the maneuver at just the right instant. Of course, both ships maintained fire as they passed.

When the rattling was done and noise had ceased, Pike called out, "Check Fire! Damage Control, all Sections! Maintain course and speed! Fire Control, Off-boresight Snapshots on both tubes! Communicator, can we talk to the Riders?"

The Communicator checked her station. "Yes, Sir! We took some damage but we've still got short range comms!"

"Have the Riders illuminate King Four as soon as it makes its turn and relay its exact position to us!"

* * *

"They're not turning?" Kor said as _Gowron _turned for another strafing run. 

"No, Sir." Sensors said. "_Enterprise_ is now holding course away from us and maintaining full military speed."

"No stomach for another pass then," Kor said. He sounded disappointed. "Oh, well. Prepare a salvo of missiles. Fire when ready and reload until…"

A warning alarm sounded. "Captain! The Cavaliers are illuminating us with their targeting systems!"

"Ahh! They leave us to their _pygmies!_ Very well, we shall dispatch them as…!"

"Pardon me, Captain, but the Cavalier armed with torpedoes has not released them yet."

Kor thought about that for a moment, then blanched as he asked, "Has _Enterprise_ fired?"

"I can't tell," Sensors said. "With the starship turned away from us, it's difficult…"

"Don't give me technicalities! Just tell me if there are any Warp indicators near the ship's forward end! Hurry, fool, before…"

At that moment, two Mk 24 torpedoes re-entered normal space in the Klingon cruiser's center of mass, and the Imperial Klingon Ship _Gowron _disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light.

* * *

"King Four, _sunk!_" _Enterprise_'s Sensor Officer called out. "All targets sunk, Splash all Bandits, Splash all inbound Vampires!" 

Cheers erupted in the Control Room and Engineering section and persisted as the Control Room crew of the starship _Enterprise_ celebrated their amazing victory. Pike let the cheering go on until he decided it was time to share the good news with the rest of the ship. He sent a discreet signal to McDonald. She nodded and called out, "All right, everyone! Quiet down! Quiet down, now!"

Pike waited for the cheers to die down, then got on Intercraft. "This is the Captain! We entered this region of space with the intention of lending assistance to a spacecraft in trouble. We were met instead by ten of the Klingon Emperor's finest ships. Final report: We're here, they're not. Outstanding work, people!"

The cheering started again, and this time there were only three people in the ship not joining in. McDonald just looked around, grinning at her shipmates. Pike smiled a satisfied smile, pride for his ship and crew supremely evident on his face.

Then, of course, there was Isabel Montoya.

Pike spotted her after a minute or two. She wasn't cheering, and she was deliberately avoiding looking around Control. She simply sat with her arms folded and her head bowed, and with an expression on her face that was not quite disgust, or disappointment, but a little of both.

Pike didn't want her bringing down the rest of the crew, so he decided to handle it before anyone else noticed. "Science Officer! Let's get some estimates on how long it will take to clear the excess radiation from the damaged spaces!"

The barked command was just enough to snap Montoya out of her malaise. "Aye, Sir," she said before she turned to her controls.

The Control Room quieted down when people realized Pike was getting back to work. "Number One, slow to Ahead Creep! Weapons, stow all cannons and secure off-board countermeasures! ChEng, I want an assessment of our current Space Warp capability, ASAP! Communicator, recall Rider One and Two. Do we have clear subspace channels yet?"

"Sorry, Sir," The Communicator said. "I couldn't tell you. Both high gain subspace transceivers are down."

Pike chuckled. "Of course. Well, it should be safe to launch a comms relay. ChEng, get on those transceivers!"

"On 'em now, Captain!" Adams called back.

"Communicator, have the Flight Bay launch a relay, and as soon as it's up send the following to group: 'From Commander, USS _Enterprise_ to Commander, Deep Recon Group One. Encountered units of the Klingon Armada while answering a distress call. Klingon units commenced full-scale attack on this ship. Status: _Enterprise_ is down one engine and heavily damaged. All enemy units destroyed. No sign of ship in distress. Request instructions and assistance. Message ends.' Add the usual stamps and signature."

"Aye, Sir," the Communicator said.

As the officer got to work, McDonald got on Intercraft. "Damage and Casualty reports, All Sections!"

And with that, life aboard the starship, slowly, happily, returned to normal.


	5. Finale

_Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.__

* * *

_

STAR TREK:

THE NO-WIN SCENARIO

By Darrin Colbourne

The response to Pike's message was more swift and substantial than he'd expected. It arrived three hours after his transmission in the form of Combined Task Force 177, consisting of the tactical spacecraft carrier USS _Margaret Thatcher_, the two _Pathfinder_-class cruisers, two _Nelson_-class destroyers and five _Oppenheimer_-class frigates of Cruiser-Destroyer Group Seven, the Lander-transporting surface warfare carrier USS _John Wayne_, and two _Miramar_-class cloak ships. As soon as the task force re-entered normal space, _Thatcher_ began launching STOVL interceptors and attack ships to conduct wide-ranging anti-air and anti-ship patrolling, three of the frigates were set up in a cordon around _Enterprise_, and the sleek, black, single-engine cloak ships dove into the Mutara Nebula to use their hyper-attuned sensors to search for any Klingon ships _Enterprise_ might have missed. The crews of the frigates guarding her marveled at the amount of punishment the _Constitution_-class starship had taken. One watch officer remarked that the front hemisphere of her command section looked like it had been in the oven too long, and only the oldest veterans were prepared for the sight of a starship with a missing nacelle that wasn't already in spacedock.

Once CTF 177 was fully deployed, Captain Pike made his report via radio to the task force commander, Rear Admiral Robert April. Most of the irradiated spaces in _Enterprise_ were fully decontaminated and cooled, allowing for greater freedom of movement for the crew. Repairs were underway to the most critically damaged areas of the ship's structure, as well as to the power distribution system, high gain antennae and starboard Warp engine. Most importantly, while there were several injuries caused by the pounding the ship took, there were no life-threatening injuries and no casualties. The ship was still maneuverable at sub-light and still had functioning sensors and weapon systems, so it was Pike's assessment that if repairs to the Warp engine were successful _Enterprise_ could return to Earth under her own power, albeit after several mid-ranged jumps. April accepted the assessment and promised that _Enterprise_'s current escorts would see her all the way home.

Meanwhile, anyone aboard _Enterprise_ not directly involved in the repair work or tending to wounded personnel was considered off-duty until it was time to get underway. With flight operations also cancelled for the duration, that left Brigid Silas with nothing to do but paperwork, which she hated. Still, she went at it with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, knowing that it would eventually help her relax, and relaxation was the purpose of standing down non-essential personnel.

Since Pilots' Quarters were among the more shot-up areas of the ship, Silas had taken a datapad with her to the more intact Hangar Deck, where she settled into the pilot's seat of her Cavalier to get the work done. She expected to get interrupted almost as soon as she got settled in, but the deck crews were good enough to leave her alone, so it was a good twenty minutes before she was disturbed, and the culprit turned out to be Christopher Pike. "Captain!" Silas said as she started to stand.

"Keep your seat," Pike said. He waited for her to settle back in before holding up his own 'pad. "Ready for this?"

Silas smiled. "Ah, my command evaluation. Let me guess: I failed miserably."

Pike raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I kind of got lured into a Klingon ambush and almost got the ship destroyed."

"'Almost' being the operative word. You only fail if you lose the ship. You saved it."

"Right…by running like a scared little girl…"

Pike shrugged. "Perfectly valid combat tactic. They build these things the way they do because they know pilots will be running them, so they can do on a larger scale anything you're used to doing in your tactical craft. In this case, since you're not as adept with the ship's offensive capabilities as you could be, you did the smart thing and hauled ass." He handed her his 'pad. "There are some things you still need to learn, but if you decide you want a starship of your own some day you'll have plenty of opportunities to work them out."

Silas took the 'pad and skimmed down the evaluation form until she got to the "Recommendation" section. She saw that Pike had selected "Further Command Training" before signing the form. It would have come across as lukewarm praise to the layman, but Silas knew better. This evaluation coming from a unit commander meant that she was officially on her way to a unit command of her own. "Thank you, Sir," she said with a smile. Pike smiled back and nodded, and Silas turned her attention to the "Comments" section of the form. Her smile faded as she read. "'Needs to remember "Battle Stations"?' What does that mean?"

"As soon as Sensors reported the inbounds the first two words out of your mouth should have been 'Battle Stations.' Things just happen more automatically that way. For instance, you wouldn't have had to order Countermeasures to start launching drones. At Battle Stations he'd have the launch tubes open and would be punching out drones as soon as the missiles were in range. Also, you'd have a couple of torpedoes in the tubes and the tubes open and ready to shoot back in case the enemy showed himself."

Silas glanced at him, then looked back at the 'pad. "You're right," she said. "How could I forget that?"

"Common malady among pilots in The Chair for the first time. See, normally you don't think about sounding Battle Stations because by the time you're doing your job someone else has already said it. You get so used to reacting automatically to someone else setting things in motion that when it comes time for you to do it, you get vapor lock and try to do everything manually, the way you fly your tactical craft. See what I'm saying?"

Silas nodded. "I think I do, yeah. So, 'common malady,' huh? I suppose that means you forgot 'Battle Stations' your first time too?"

Pike smiled. "First two times, actually. My CO aboard the _George_ _Bush_ made great sport of it."

"How about Number One?"

"She likes to _pretend_ it never happened, but I have sources that tell me she blew the call a couple of times herself in her initial training." He leaned in and lowered his voice. "Just don't tell her I told you, or she'll kill us _both_ to keep the secret."

Silas giggled as she handed back the 'pad. "My lips are sealed."

Pike turned serious as he took the 'pad back. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about. I need you to do me a favor. Traditionally, a commander's not supposed to send someone on a mission he wouldn't undertake himself, but I've been down this particular street before, and I figured this time…"

Silas cut him off with a raised hand. "Where is she?"

* * *

A few minutes later Silas was standing in front of Isabel Montoya's quarters. The door was open, so she looked inside. The place was a wreck. Every surface of the bulkheads, deck and ceiling had been scorched, the furnishings had been burned to ash and the desk computer was a molten slag of polymers resting on what was left of the desk. There was no mystery what happened. Two massive burn-holes in the wall opposite the door announced that this was where two of the Klingons' particle shots had penetrated.

At first Silas was going to turn back, but instinct made her poke her head in and look around a little more. That's when she spotted Montoya leaning against the wall next to the door, staring at the burn-holes. "Hi, Brigid," she said without turning.

"Hi," Silas said, smiling. When that didn't snap Montoya out of it, Silas stepped all the way in and looked around. "This is nothing," she said, completely deadpan. "You should see my place."

"They completely destroyed _everything_," Montoya said. "Everything I brought with me on this ship was flash-fried."

"But _you_ weren't," Silas said. "That's one of the perques of having a job in one of the best-protected spaces aboard."

It was as if Montoya hadn't heard. "All I wanted to do was lay in my bed and think," she said. "Number One sent me off-duty, and all I wanted to do was lay in my bed and think…" - she indicated a large pile of ash and melted alloy in the opposite corner - "…and _that's_ my bed!"

Silas chuckled. "Okay, well, the repair crews will get around to crew quarters eventually, so pretty soon you'll have your bed back, and we're definitely going back to Earth, so you can get new stuff to put in here. In the meantime, there are plenty of quiet places aboard where you can just lay back and think."

"It will take days for us to get back to Earth on one Warp engine. Where do I sleep while we're underway?"

Silas shrugged. "You can sleep with me," she said. She immediately regretted it when Montoya turned to her with her eyebrow raised. "I mean, with me and the other pilots…" She winced. "I mean…!" She sighed. "Pilots' Quarters got trashed as thoroughly as yours, so the wing is going to camp out on the Flight Deck. You're welcome to join us."

Montoya smiled and took Silas's hand. "Thank you."

Silas smiled back, silently congratulating herself for cheering Montoya up. The good feeling didn't last long. Montoya's smile faded as she turned back to look at the room. Silas frowned, but took it as a good sign that Montoya was still holding her hand, so she ventured, "The room isn't really what's bothering you, is it?"

"Did you cheer?" Montoya blurted out.

"What do you mean?" Silas said.

Montoya turned to her. "When we destroyed that last ship, did you cheer?"

"Are you kidding? If I could have stood up in the cockpit I would have given that last hit a standing ovation! That kill was bad-ass!"

Montoya nodded and looked back into the room. "Everybody in the Control Room cheered when we destroyed the last ship. It was like we had won the World Series or something."

Silas nodded. "And that bothered you."

"No…well, yes, but…I was raised to revere life in all its forms. Life is a precious thing, and part of my job is to help preserve all of it, without distinguishing between friend and foe. Even if I have to kill something or someone in order to guarantee my own survival, it's my duty to mourn that death, not celebrate it. I believe that passionately, and yet when we finally finished slaughtering all those Klingons I came within a hairsbreadth of cheering along with everyone else." She turned to Silas. "That's what's bothering me. It's like everything I learned about life from my parents and my teachers and colleagues didn't mean a thing in that instant. I just knew those Klingons were dead, and I was _glad_ of the fact."

"In other words, you had a normal Human reaction to the fact that a bunch of people that were trying to kill you ended up dead themselves."

"I _know_ it's normal, but should it be? Can we really claim to have advanced as a species if elation is a normal reaction to death under any circumstances?"

"Well, if you put it that way, maybe not."

"Doesn't it bother you at all?"

"To be Human?" Silas smirked. "Never. I think it's the best thing in the universe to be. Come on, Smart Girl. We'll go down and sit in my ship and you can brood about it all you like while I get some work done."

Silas gently pulled Montoya out of the room and started off toward the turbolift. Montoya followed dutifully, but couldn't help looking back. "Why did they attack at all?" She wondered aloud. "What's so important about the _Enterprise_ that the Klingons would risk restarting an interstellar war just to destroy it?"

Silas barely gave it a moment's thought. "Who knows why Klingons do anything they do?"

It was the last thing either of them would say on the subject.


End file.
